Why are the higher ups at burger king china so foolish?

Apparently beijing has 5 burger kings, excluding the one at T3 at the PEK airport which is under the shanghai BK's jurisdiction. Recently I visited one because I missed american food and thought the BK at the airport was fairly good so I gave it a go. I also happened to be in the area so I thought why not. This particular location is roughly half a mile north of the Pearl Market, for those who have been there.

When I walked inside, I noticed the prices were 30-40% more expensive than McDonalds. I ordered a whopper and ate there. OMG the "beef" patty was so bland, and barely had any grill marks. I randomly asked an employee a question and she called over another lady. After looking at her name tag I noticed she was the general manager. Apparently the "bosses" over at BK corporate are trying to market BK as superior to McDonalds. I went at 6 p.m., which I consider dinner time. The place was barely 60% full, whereas every McDonalds I've been in has been 120% at capacity.

China is known for being the most populous country, and a rather poor one at that. The middle class is growing, but most still consider McDonalds to be a medium priced meal. I would think marketing BK as more expensive than McD is one the stupidest things they can do. Sure the buns might be slightly bigger and the tables nicer, but that isn't what draws the Chinese in.

If any BK exec reads this, lol, although I doubt any will, please do something to change your marketing strategy, otherwise I feel BK will exit the Chinese market within 3-5 years.

Here's what'd I consider/change/add:

1. Where the heck are the happy meal equivalents? No toys??? In the US some places have banned happy meals because they've been so successful in bringing in kids to their stores

2. Lower your prices. Chinese people don't really care if BK is higher quality, they care about what every one cares about. MONEY...So what if the buns at BK are better than those at McD?

3. Please add salt your patties... According to the GM of the one I visited BK doesn't add any salt to their patties.....WHAT??? What are we supposed to taste? the grease?

4. Dude the translations suck...I don't get why many of the translations were so bad, ie. on the menu. It's not like you're making up a new name. Just copy from the american menus.....

5. The meat tasted kinda weird... I purposely went to a McD a few days after to compare. If you must market BK as a better fast food joint, then please, don't cheapen the patties while spending more on buns and vegetables...People don't go to BK and McD to eat the buns and veggies...They're there to enjoy the "beef"...

That's what's up...

Mc D also press the beef thin on their burgers, as for salt the Chineese do not like salt..

In China they want their vegies...

More Skinny Chinese over there than Fat Americans...

Sometimes it pay to cut out the Fat, you live longer.....LOL...

Huh? While I have some major issues with Chinese food in HK/China, lack of salt isn't one of them. That honor goes to Korea full stop.

McD's prices haven't really adjusted to affect the current market (IMO/E). In addition to BK, Fat Burger and Carl's Jr are substantially more expensive, but that hasn't stopped people from buying.

I don't think meat prices have gone up that much, unlike 2008. This time it's mostly vegetables pushing up the CPI. I guess McD doesn't do vegetables

Not that it matters, but I meant to use the word "reflect" instead of "affect" in the post you quoted.

I suppose the point I wanted to make was that BK, Fat Burger, and Carl's are relatively new entrants, and have presumably done comprehensive pricing studies more recently than McDs or KFC. What's more even if McDs/KFC were to do new studies, their customers might not respond too favorably to a sudden 30% increase.

As for the salt issue.

I carry my own salt packs. At my local McD, they do not add salt to the fries. Asking for some salt always causes a discussion with management before they give you the salt. (by the time you get the salt, fries are cold) Asking for salt during the ordering process delays the whole order by 10-15 minutes as they are multiple discussions before they process the order AND give me the salt.

We did raise prices last month http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News...18-247822.html

I can't speak for BK, but MCD has pretty significant pricing power with our suppliers (since most of these suppliers are global in nature). This allows us manage our food and paper costs a lot better than our competitors. We're still affected by rising costs, just not as much.

looks to me BK doesn't care about China market. Check how many MCD and KFC in China and how many BK there.

Burger King made a corporate decision a long time ago not to deal with the China market. Then they changed course, and opened their first BK in China in 2005, so they are very very late to the China fast food party. KFC opened its first restaurant in China in late 1987 and McD's in 1990, so there is a considerable head start there--not to mention other Asia-based fast food noodle chains and such.

As of 2011, I don't think it's a matter of BK not caring, as much as floundering in how to get the brand known, how to differentiate with marketing and how to execute. As in many industries, what worked in other countries doesn't necessarily work in the Chinese market. And the costs of establishing a new business, barriers to entry, and financial risk are now greater.

It's been 5 years since BK entered the Chinese market. I can't speak on behalf of the SH locations, but the BJ locations need help desperately...

I've cut way back on fast food during the past several years, and have yet to try BK in Beijing outside of the airport, but I have a number of friends who salivate at the very mention of going to the Xinguangtiandi location. Once I suggested that since it would take us 20 minutes to get there, McD's (literally 50 meters away) might make more sense, and they glared at me as if I was insane.

It's funny that you mention this. The guy that heads up BK for Asia, used to run McDonald's China. He left a few years ago and took some other folks with him. I would have thought he could turn the BK boat around, but looks like he's still having some challenges there.

Believe it or not, I actually like nicely done BK burgers. The problem is that it's a coin toss as to whether you get it or not. Consistency isn't a strong point. Some folks in the SH office went with me to the YuYuan BK a while back and the food wasn't that good--and that was after a 10 min wait to get it.

One other thing that surprises people I talk to is that McDonald's doesn't consider BK as our competition, especially in Asia. KFC is more of a challenger.

A friend and I got into an argument and made a subsequent bet last month. I claimed that KFC had more than 1500 stores in China, while he thought less than 500. We settled on 1000, and he later tried to claim that both of us lost because the true number so far away from 1500 to render both of guesses irrelevant. (Incidentally, I refused to accept his reasoning, and ended up collecting my winnings.)

Anyway, I'd like to share some of my observations (some based on research and some based on instinct/opinion) about the state of American fast food chains in China:

-McD's chose a slow and methodical approach to localization (in order to maintain a product consistent with its locations in other countries), which entailed a high cost structure during its first ~7 years in country
-But, once they had all their ducks in order, they owned their supply chains Wal Mart style, and saw sharp rises in profitability
-Incidentally, in spite of my current attempt to avoid that sort of cuisine, whenever I find myself in a random city, in which I detest the local cuisine, I'm delighted by the shear sight of the arches, which I typically can -- in the absence of physical obstructions -- spot from 2 miles away
-What's more, before heading into a random McD's, I can pretty much assure myself that my Big Mac will be just as good as the BJ/SH Big Macs, which are generally superior to their counterparts in the US (maybe the gap will close over time, as a job at McD's is no longer considered prestigious in the big cities)
-Pretty much from the outside, KFC determined that Chinese preferred locally available ingredients to pretty much anything they could import.... even I would tend to agree that your typical Chinese chicken is more delicious than its American counterpart, not to mention fast food grade chickens
-They never even bothered with the biscuits or mashed potatoes (they do sell the latter, but they taste like chalk and the locals regard them as "baby food")
-And, half of the menu consists of items tailored for the local market (you generally don't see identifiable chicken parts on the big board)
-But, hey; the Chinese seem to love KFC, and their costs are low, so they deserve some props
-Their Taco Bell experiment borrowed pages from the same play book (e.g. Chinese think refried beans -- like mashed potatoes -- are inherently gross, so why bother?). BTW, I remember reading reports about their market research efforts prior to launch and could already sense they were setting themselves up for an early exit
-I visited the Taco Belle Grande (their flagship) a few times and didn't witness many happy customers; the margaritas, in particular, were absolutely toxic
-Regarding BK, of course they should not be regarded as competition for McD/KFC; they have around ~30 stores, total
-That having been said, if we give them a chance to work out their bugs, it's possible that they will be able to get their act in gear as well

Sometimes, I think about fast food chains that it would be nice to see in China. Unfortunately, many of the best contenders are either tightly controlled or have sold their China rights away to people/companies that are simply sitting on them. As such, resurrecting chains from the dead or rescuing those that are about to go bust (e.g. Mister Doughnut, Kenny Rodger's Roasters) sort of makes sense.

And he's based in Singapore, and is a fellow alumni....